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Thursday 25 November 2010

Scrapping again

As most of you know, I'm a scrapbooker rather than a cardmaker, but recently my scrapping mojo has been on holiday. That was until this week when I was handed my December Scrapaholix kit and told to get on with some samples.

You can see the result of that over on the other blog where i have got 2 gorgeous projects ready to do with the Club members on the 8th Dec... but it really got my scrapping mojo going again and here is an all SU page I made today...


This is another one for my Vow Renewal album - and its all Stampin' Up! products on it.

The base is Basic Black cardstock, and the papers are from the Neutrals Designer Series Paper pack (basic black and whisper white). I've added highlights using my new favourite red - the Poppy Parade in colour cardstock for the flowers, and ribbon along with a few Circle Fire brads in red. Add a spray of Old Olive leaves, and a title and bingo!

Do you like my home made roses??

Watch this space!

Friday 19 November 2010

I can now take credit card payments!!

I forgot to mention some BIG news back in October - but I'll share it with you now!

Stampin' Up! Demonstrators can now accept credit cards for payments for stash goodies!



 This is fantastic news for me as a Demonstrator and you as a customer as it means that we no longer have to tell our hostesses to tell their guests to bring along cash or cheque books, and don't have to wait for cheques to arrive in the post and clear before placing orders!

Why not have a browse through the online catalogue - click on the link on the right ---> to be taken straight there! and then ring or email your order through - I will then get in touch for the all important details which will be kept securely at all times!

Go on - order today and your goodies could be landing on your doorstep in less than a week!


If you would like a hard copy of the catalogue to flick through - these cost £5 including postage (refundable with an order of £60 or more).

07973 969153

Thursday 18 November 2010

Product news

Due to a quality control issue with the ornament punch, Stampin' Up! have temporarily withdrawn it from sale.

They are working with the manufacturer to resolve the problem, and hopefully it will be available to purchase again in the very near future.

Unfortunately, this means that one of the bundles in the current promotion is also no longer available to purchase.

I apologise to any of my customers who were hoping to buy one of these punches - but I will let everyone know when it is available for purchase again.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Fancy a Christmas bargain??

Like to take an impulse buy off my hands and get yourself a bargain???

A couple of months ago, I was tempted by a special offer - and treated myself to one of these little toys which were launched at the summer CHA.  Its the Teresa Collins Stampmaker machine and starter kit.

Quite why I gave in to that moment of madness I don't know - but the poor little machine has languished in the unopened brown cardboard outer sleeve in which it arrived - I haven't even opened it to look at the contents, so i thought I would offer it to my readers.


Normally these machines sell in the UK for £125 plus P&P but here is a chance to get your hands on one for just £100 which includes the P&P to your doorstep - as i said - I haven't even opened the posting box let alone the inner box and the goodies it contains.

If you want to see one in action, here is Teresa herself putting it through its paces so you can see exactly what it can do!

Get in touch if you are interested

07973 969153

Monday 15 November 2010

Christmas is Coming!!


Well we are just a few weeks away from the festive season, and all those "Oh it's just what I've always wanted!" presents (that we all get at least one of every year) under the tree.

Well - I have a suggestion for those of you who have hopeless present buying hubbies/ boyfriends/ parents/ kids who would like to get at least one present you really really want under the tree on Christmas morning - my wish list service!

Ask me for a wish list form, or simply email your wish list over to me on ExStitch@aol.com. When your present buyers ask you what you want for Christmas - simply point them in my direction and once they tell me the budget, I will order you items from your list, wrap them up beautifully (with a hand stamped tag so you know what's in the parcel) and ensure they are delivered in time for the big day. Now that I can take credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) for payment - its easier than ever!!

If you click the picture of the catalogue in the side bar, you will be taken straight to the online catalogue, or ask me to pop a hard copy (£5 inc P&P and refundable on an order of £60 or more) in the post.

If you have a very geneous present buyer who gives me a budget of over £150 - you will also get the hostess benefits of a limited edition stamp set or paper pad, and free merchandise.

Let me know if I can help!!

Don't forget the great offer on at the moment where you can get your choice of special limited edition Christmas ribbons for FREE - check out the Current Promotion page on the top line for details.

ExStitch@aol.com
07973 969153

Thursday 11 November 2010

Convention Make and Takes

No - I make no apology for going on- and on (and on!) about Convention!

It really is the highlight of the Stampin' Up! year and a chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones. For me its a very rare chance to catch up with my team mates in the Tartan Stampers who as you can probably guess from the name, are nearly all based in Scotland, the majority in Aberdeen so just about as far away from Kent as you can get!

One of the perks of going to the party is that you get quite a few freebies thrown into the package - starting off with the exclusive Convention Bag which is usually quite nice - but this year is obviously the one taste forgot and I'm afraid that I don't really LIKE the lurid Tangerine Tango/ Melon Mambo/ Whisper White plastic satchel we got this year - so I'm not going to show it to you - in any case - as it has been appropriated by Katy as her schoolbag - it isn't here to photograph!

However the contents of the bags are another matter - they contain TWO fabulous stamp sets from the current catalogue, and this year the sets were the beautiful Just Believe (116948W/120453C at £32.95 or £25.95 respectively) and the fun Party this Way (118744W/ 120609C at £15.95 and £12.95 respectively). The second morning of the Convention is spent doing a set of make and takes using these sets and here are the ones we made this year.....

First up is this beautiful card with its matching envelope.

To create this one we used the watercolour paper which arrived in this years catalogue and we used a new (to me anyway) technique on it. We coloured the stamp using markers, then spritzed the inked stamp with a mini mister, and then stamped onto the watercolour paper - that's what gives it the fabulous soft watercolour look! We also got a chance to use the new Colour Spritzer  - I can see this one being a demo or make and take at a workshop in the near future!


Now a fun little card using Party this Way - we used tone on tone ink and cardstock for this one along with one of the new square punches - and that arrow in the centre is actually a spinner


Back to Just Believe again and this time a lovely little gift pouch using Pear Pizzazz ink on the matching cardstock. Its finished off with that LUSH striped ribbon and a cute mini tag made using one of the flowers on a smaller stamp, coloured with the markers!


Open it up and inside are half a dozen mini cards to match!


Finally we made a 6x6 scrapbook page in the same colour palette - all I need to do now is find a photo to go on it I think one of the ones of my 50th will go with this perfectly as the green of the trees and the big yellow flowers on the dress i wore will go beautifully with these colours!


So that was it for another year - if you fancy joining me at next year's jamboree in Disneyland Paris (sorry - it will always be EuroDisney to me!) why not check out the fabulous starter kit (details on the Join my Team page) and get ready to PAAAAARRRRTTTTYYYYY!

Back soon with details of some of the lovely swaps i received!

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Swaps swaps and more swaps!!

Well I promised to share piccies of the swaps I made for Convention with you, so here they are in full, glorious technicolour! All of the supplies used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise indicated.

First up the general swaps I made to exchange with my fellow demos from the UK, France and Germany, As usual I had left everything until the last minute so mine were of necessity fairly simple.

I made 100 of these little dove cards - 4x4 of basic black cardstock, the "Peace on Earth" stamp from the Four the Holidays stamp set stamped in Versamark then heat embossed with silver embossing powder. The dove was punched out of whisper white card with the 2 step Bird punch, and the branch out of old olive before assmbling the card using a dimensional to raise the wing and one of the tiny rhinestones from the new Jewels pack for his eye.


Then I also made 50 of these Christmas cones while I was at a craft fair the other weekend - thanks to the lovely Kim Fee who gave me the idea at our training session the other week - these were the first swaps to go funnily enough.....
They were half of a 6x6 piece of Jolly Holiday patterned paper rolled into a cone, a few inches of 5/8 Satin ribbon scrunched onto a 3" length of Sticky Strop with a hanger made out of  a piece of card punched with the word window and gold cord/ linen thread attached with a brad. The little dangly bit was made using one of the Stamps from the gorgeous Winter Post set (stamped twice in different colours and the centre of one cut out and mounted on dimensionals) and attached to the ribbon with a wee gold safety pin (non SU).


Now for the "Card Candy" swap.
"What is card candy?" I can hear you asking - well its basically where we make little 3D embellishments to use on cards, and then package them up like you would find in shops.... the challenge is to make a minimum of 6 pieces of candy which must have at least 2 layers using one stamp set - I chose to use the fabulous Winter Post set again and my swappees can choose to use the topper decoration as a 7th piece of candy if they want! I did end up using Season of Joy for one piece and the topper decoration though (Season of Joy is one of the sets which is bundled up with the offer mentioned a couple of posts below - check it out to see if you can get some scrummy free ribbon!)


The gift item swap was one where we were challenged to make something a bit more complex - the sort of item you would buy at a craft fair. I decided to make everyone one of these gorgeous little card cabinets which I found on a US Demo's (Becky Roberts)  blog. This pic is of the prototype I made for myself using whisper white and real red cardstock but the girls ones were made out of Crumb Cake card with Greenhouse Gala papers for the "drawer" fronts and on the cards and matching pens they got. Unfortuantely - I forgot to take photos of the actual items - but people seemed to like the end result!
 I intend to use mine to store all my adhesives/ bone folder/ craft knives in as the bottom section is staged to lift the back compartment up so its easy to see the contents!


The 3D swap also came from Becky it was one of the items in her fabulous 12 days of Christmas 2010 tutorial. Its a little sweetie holder containing 3 Ferrero Rocher chocolates made out of old olive card and the jolly holiday papers and you may notice my signature item - the puched out doodad from Winter Post features again (I just LOVE that new designer label punch!)


The final swap I signed up for was the business tools one - and I got some fabulous ideas from the others in the group. This was my offering - a "Party in a Bag!"
This is something you can you use when you have a potential hostess who is worrying about how much preparation is involved in having a party. If you hand her a bag with everything she needs for the food and drink she might be pushed into booking. My bags (non SU) were stamped using the So Swirly jumbo wheel and a printed logo label. They contained a bagalope containing tea and coffee bags, a box of brownie mix and in real life the envelope would contain invitations for the hostess to send out. I would also put a catalogue and hostess leaflet in the bag as well. This is a great way to get some product into a potential hostesses hands (I used some of my recently retired supplies to make the contents). As the swing tag says - all your hostess has to do is "Just add Friends!". You can of course put whatever you like into the bags - a bottle of wine and a pack of nibbles might be more appropriate for your hostesses!!


So you can see why I was rather tied up last week - just at the moment I never want to touch another piece of cardstock for a VERY long time ("as if!" - snorts a hubby reading this over my shoulder!)

While its lovely to get lots of swaps back in return - its does mean a lot of hard work - and I am stating here and now that I am not doing anything other than the general swaps next year - I can do without all the stress and angst!

I'll be back shortly with the last swap the CMC or "Convention Memory Card" one which was organised by one of the German Demos......

Sunday 7 November 2010

Wow - what a great Convention!!!




Yes there were the niggles like dodgy moments at the hotels (Dawn was put into the wrong room at first - with some almost strangers), the imbuggerance of coaches to and from the venue, and the cramped conditions in the main stage but I had a whale of a time - and I'm sure others did too! Given that everyone had to either drive themselves or catch coaches between the hotels and the venue - I don't feel too bad about opting to save money and going to the travelodge for £25/ night


I've come home with some lovely goodies from all the swaps - both general and organised, and it was great to spend some time with the friendliest and most amazing SU team in the UK (that's the Tartan Stampers BTW!)!! Photos will follow once Lorraine sends them to me!


I've already told Dawn about my big adventure on the way home but will share it with you.... its almost worthy of Mammy Hen! (Mary)


The SatNav took me home via a most circuitous route - back up to Orpington, onto the M25 there - off at Sevenoaks (which is only a couple of minutes from my sister's house...) and then a quick dash down the A21 to Tunbridge Wells all in all about 35 minutes or so from the palace to the takeaway.


I stopped in the next village to fill up the car and pick up a takeaway - and while I was waiting for the food, I decided to dig out my house keys as Rog isn't very good at leaving the motion sensor outside light on at ours..... imagine my horror when I realised I didn't have the keys in my bag - especially as Rog and Katy were down in Portsmouth on a sailing weekend....... and his car was in Southampton...


I rang Roger, to ask him where he had put our emergency spare key (he hides it somewhere in the garden), and was even more appalled to find out that he hadn't put it back after the last time he'd needed to use it.... there I was, clutching my lovely Chinese food and locked out of the house with no prospect of being able to get in until Sunday evening...... He even admitted that he realised I must have forgotten my keys as he saw my very large key chain - complete with 2 Kipling monkeys hanging on the key board in the hall. He got yelled at for not telling me or leaving the spare outside ready for me!!


Then I remembered - my sister had a spare key (remember me saying I passed close to her house on the way back.??) Only trouble was - she'd told me on Wednesday evening that she and her family were off out to a fireworks do... Anyway - I rang my brother in law on his mobile (unlike my sister he carries it with him AND keeps it switched on all the time!!)  to ask what time they expected to be home as I needed either the spare key, or if they couldn't find it - a bed for the night! Imagine my relief when I heard that while he and my niece were indeed doing a moonlight walk around a forest in the dark....my sister had opted to stay home - so I could go and get the spare key any time I liked.


Anyway - I got back in the car - and retraced my steps back to Sevenoaks to be greeted by my sis waving the spare key in one hand and a large vodka and coke in the other.... she had a plate ready so I could warm up my congealing takeaway - and I spent a lovely evening keeping her company while we heckled Strictly and X facor.... before finally going back home and into my own bed. around 11 o clock!


Hope my fellow demo's trips home were slightly less eventful - and here's to next year at Disneyland!!

Monday 1 November 2010

Bundled up for Christmas Promotion


How would you like a Christmas present from Stampin' Up?


Well from the 1st November until the 29th December you can have just that as SU are giving away free ribbon to customers with an order for selected bundles of Christmas products.


With every bundle you buy - you get to choose one of the fabulous ribbon packs on offer and there are 4 different ones available (Click on the pic to see a bigger one).

So what are the bundles which qualify for the goodies?

Well here they are - and look out for the lovely patterned paper which isn't in the catalogue in one of them!



Tempted? I know I was and my order went in first thing this morning so I'm hoping it gets here before Convention!

Let me know if I can help you with your orders 07973 969153 or ExStitch@aol.com